Web Site Content Development

this site right now.

Why is content development so important?

If you didn't read the little story about the stores in your neighborhood, read it here. Use your back button on your browser to return here.

That gives you a good idea why content is so important. If you are still not convinced, continue reading, I will convince you. 

By the way, this step is the most time consuming when building your own web site. It is also the most important. Once you develop real, original content, you will be 75% of the way done building a money making web site. Keep reading:

What do you do on the internet when you aren't working on your web site? Are you looking for something to buy? Sometimes. Most often you are probably looking for information (content). For the sake of this example let's pretend you are doing a little shopping.

Let's say you are looking for a new computer. (This could be anything, I just selected computer because I'm staring at one right now.) What do you do first? Do you open up any page and just start clicking until you find a computer for sale and buy it? No, of course, not. You probably go to a search engine, put computer in the search box and click OK.

A list of results will come up for you to look through. How did the search engine decide on which websites to show you? Their spiders search through billions of websites and find the ones with the most relevant information (content) for your search and present them to you.

• NOTE: There was a time when all you had to do was list a bunch of keywords in your meta-tags and the spiders would think your site had information about that subject. Those days are gone. The spiders now read your website to see how much information is actually available on any given subject. If all the spider finds is a pile of links to other sites, the spider will go to those other sites to see if there is any information there. They cross you off their list and they don't return.

Back to our original search for computers. Lets be a little more specific about the computer we want. Lets search for a Dell computer with a Pentium 4 processor and a 250GB hard drive. If you have an affiliate link for this exact computer on your website in and amongst all your other computer links, lets pretend the search engines picked you up and presented your website in the results for this search. You will be on page 24,753. Do you think any customers are going to find your website?

Do that search right now and see what you get. Look at the websites that come up on the first page. What do they all have in common? They all have good solid information about the computer you are interested in buying. None of these websites are pages full of affiliate links. Go to page two and look again. More of the same. If you are really bored, take a look at page three. Do you see what I'm talking about? Of course you do! The fact is - Content RULES! No two ways about it.

• NOTE: Do you ever really go to page three of a search? I never go past page one. If I don't find what I'm looking for on page one, I refine my search. If you aren't on page one, you are a sinking ship.

So let's start building your website. If you don't know enough about Dell computers with a Pentium 4 processor and a 250GB hard drive to write riveting information about it, don't build your website about computers. You have too much competition and you will never sell a thing.

When you are building your website, pick a subject that you are very knowledgeable about.  A hobby or a job that you have life experience about. Something you can go on and on about and never run out of things to say. This is what you know and this is what you can teach others about.

You will find plenty of affiliate programs available for any subject. Don't worry about sales right now. Worry about developing content. Sales come naturally to a well built website. If you decide to start your website by first looking to see what you want to sell, you will fail. Remember, step by step.

• NOTE: First and foremost, build a first class website. Make it very informative. Make it at least 20 pages of exceptional content that people will really want to read. Make it look nice and be inviting. Help your visitors find a real solution to a problem. Give them words and lots of them. Don't give them the same information they can get anywhere. Talk to them, make them like you, make them trust you. Then they will buy.

Content is the only way to do it and actually make money. There are no shortcuts and no special tricks. If you don't have content, you don't have anything. Plus, companies who offer affiliate programs will not even approve your site to sell their products if you don't have any usable information on your website. More on approval here.

Once you have decided on your topic, make an outline of sorts. These are your ideas on how to present your topic. Brainstorm. You will be surprised at how easily the ideas pop into your head. If they don't, pick a different topic. Please keep in mind while you are writing, you are not trying to sell anything, just present valuable information to your reader. If you need more help on writing your content, here is a very good book to help you. It's not free, it costs $9.95, but it's well worth the investment. The author used his 14 year old daughters web site as an example. Hey if she can make money so can you.    P.S. Try it on your own first.

Once you have at least 20 good ideas, 30 or 40 would be better, you can start writing. If you are lucky enough to have a program like FrontPage or Dreamweaver, go ahead and start your content there. If you don't have an HTML Editor, use notepad and start compiling your pages. This part is all about words. Don't worry about the fancy stuff yet. 

Write at least 10 pages before you decide you have a website. You can add more later once you are up and running.

Write your pages like you are talking to a friend. Be honest and sincere. Don't try to create Pulitzer prize winning articles. Real people want to read real information. You are not trying to impress your English teacher here. If you write over the heads of your visitors, they will leave. Put your impressive vocabulary on the shelf. Make your information an easy read and your readers will trust you know what you are talking about because they are understanding what you are saying.

Try to make each page flow into the next. Have a method to your madness. Each page should be a new topic that compliments the last topic and will lead into the next one. Make it all work together.

For more help on getting started? Go here.

Here is a great FREE ebook for you to read more on this subject. It's called Netwriting Masters Course . This book was written by Ken Evoy, a master in website building. Read what he has to say.

Web Site Content Development